360Albert Einstein
In 60 words
Albert Einstein was a German-born physicist whose theories of relativity changed our understanding of space, time and gravity. In 1905, while working in a patent office, he published four landmark papers, including the idea behind E = mc². His general relativity of 1915 explained gravity as curved space-time. He won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Born in Ulm on 14 March 1879, he studied in Zurich. His 'miracle year' of 1905 made his name, and he became a professor in Zurich, Prague and Berlin.
In 1933 he moved to the United States and worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton until his death. His name has become a byword for genius.